Corrupt Hard Drive

[JaeLane]

I had a corrupt file yesterday on my PC and with the help of a Dell Tech, I installed a new hard drive (and installed Windows XP on it). So now I have two hard drives containing data. I have two questions. One, how can I transfer data from the old hard drive (Maxtor) onto the new hard drive (WDC). The other question is ...is the data from the old hard drive safe and does the corruption error mean it is unsafe? Can you tell I'm not very computer literate? I surely appreciate your help.

Jae

[Steve R Jones]

Corrupted means damaged beyond use/broken-unreadable. And yes, in theory, the drive should be considered safe...

Depending on how extensive the corruption is, you can either add the old drive as a "slave" drive or put it in an external case and access the files.

[dr_roberts49]

Do as Steve suggested. Once you have moved the files, I would suggest formatting the drive and see if it comes up with any bad sectors. Those sectors can be locked out to prevent data from being written to them. If you get a lot of them, I would dump the drive.

Robert

I did make the old drive the slave.... and the things I wanted most from it (My Documents, My Picutres and My Music) are not accessible. I get the message "access denied" when I try to get into My Documents. My pictures and My Music seem to be gone. Even in a search I cannot find either on the hard drive. I'm hoping this isn't the case but fearing that I've simply lost those two folders. True?
Sorry for being such a pest but while I have your attention .....
This new HD (WDC) is so noisy when it's running. The old drive (Maxtor) was very quiet. Is that simply the difference in brands? Which would you recommend?
Thanks again for your time....
Jae

[JaeLane]

I sent a reply of thanks but don't see it in the thread. I hate to repeat but alas I'm a woman and we talk too much. I did as Steve suggested and can see the drive. My problem now is the folders I wanted to retreive so badly (My Documents, Pictures and Music) are not available. When I click the folder I'm denied access. Does that mean they are lost permenantly? All other files and programs are intact as far as I can tell. Also the new master (WDC) is much noisier than the new slave (Maxtor)...is that simply the difference in brands? What brand would you recommend?
Thanks again for your time and patience....
Jae

[Steve R Jones]

This will fix the access denied issue:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;308421

[JaeLane]

I did do as the instructions say...
and then realized there are zero files or folders in My Documents and Settings. Not only am I still denied access...the folder is empty.
Data disappeared.
Thanks again
Jae

[exhawaiian]

make sure when you take ownship that you checked the all sub folders otption. It will always show zero files and zero bytes until yo take control

[JaeLane]

Back to the instructions for taking ownership of a file or folder

The instructions say ...1.Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).

When I right click on properties there is no security tab. All I have are... General, Sharing, and Customize.

again apologies for being such a pest
Jae

[Keymaker]

Originally Posted by JaeLane

Back to the instructions for taking ownership of a file or folder

The instructions say ...1.Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).

When I right click on properties there is no security tab. All I have are... General, Sharing, and Customize.

again apologies for being such a pest
Jae

Do you have a password enabled account for your new current user name? I think this may be the issue. If you have a password then that security tab may appear. I will do more research here becuse I know a way to read those protected files, but can't remeber off hand now.


On the corrupt file issue.

Just because your had one file that was corrupt, doesn't necessarily mean the entire drive was bad. In fact, you never needed a new drive I bet. Sense you have one now it will aid in moving your stuff off and formating it.

You can use this program to test that drive and see if in fact the drive is beyond repair. In which case, the files are a no go. Now if the hard drive is accessible, then put it back on the first ribbon cable and the new hard drive on the second ribbon cable and just move your files that way.

Your new account is using the same user name and password? That is paramount when reading these instructions. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881/en-us